![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Writing: How to Plan a Series
Aug. 18th, 2009 08:53 amFirst off, I'd like to remind everyone who speaks/reads German, wherever you are, that THE GERMAN EDITION HAS BEEN RELEASED! Die Assassine, the retitled German version of The Skewed Throne with the awesome cover, is now available. Please feel free to order a thousand copies. Or one, whichever you prefer. *grin* The awesome cover, in case you forgot:
Also, I've chosen a winner of the signed "To Josh" book from the mildly disasterous signing event. And that winner is . . . sheryl67! Congrats! Send me a message here on LJ with the address I should send it to, or send an email to jpalmatier@sff.net, and I'll get that in the mail, hopefully in time to get it to your friend from miles away named Josh.
OK, now the writing topic. This was a panel at Worldcon in Montreal which I was a part of, along with George R.R. Martin, Laura Anne Gilman, Fiona Patton, Mindy Klasky, and M.D. Benoit. I'm not doing a rehash of the entire panel because I didn't take notes and I can't remember that far back, especially when it's so freaking hot outside. All I'm doing is giving you my thoughts on the topic, with some potentially interesting highlights from the panel itself that stuck with me.
The pictures are courtesy of Carole Ann Moleta. That's George R.R. Martin, me, and Laura Anne Gilman (from left to right).
In order to understand how I, personally, write a series, you have to understand that I'm a "pantser," meaning that I don't plan that far ahead, I just sit down and write without an outline or anything. All I have in my head are a bunch of potential scenes, or guideposts, events that I think are going to happen in the story and are typically the BIG events in the story, such as the ending, the beginning, and a few big moments in the middle somewhere. From the panel, I'd say that George is also a pantser, and that Laura Anne is mostly not, although she's flexible. George doesn't call it being a pantser though, he calls my style of writing being a "gardener," tending the garden but letting it grow as it wishes for the most part. He's a gardener. He calls Laura Anne's approach being an "architect." Since Laura Anne does some gardening in her style as well, she dubbed herself a "landscape architect."
So, if I'm a gardener or pantser, you might be wondering how I plan a series, since I don't seem to plan much at all. And in some sense that's true: I don't plan in the sense of a detailed outline or anything like that. But if you're going to sell books in this business, especially fantasy novels, you need to be able to provide plot synopses, and since most publishers want series, the synopsis will typically have to be for a multi-book series. I have a few proposals sitting on my editors desk right now, so I do have to do some planning. My editor understands that what I present in the plot synopsis might not be exactly what appears in the book, but that the book will be generally close to the synopsis.
Planning, even for pantsers, is still required in other words.
Here's how I do it then. I begin with the guideposts that have presented themselves. As I said, it's usually a bunch of scenes from the novel, let's say about 4 or 5. For a series, it's usually more. The first thing I do is look for the one powerful scene that will be the end of the first book. This scene needs to have a few essentials, especially for the first book in a series, and especially if this is to be your debut novel. It has to be powerful and gut-wrenching of course. You want the first book to end on a high note after all. But it needs more. For me, and for a debut novel, it has to be a satisfactory ending to a complete story arc. You want the readers to walk away happy they read that book, and not feeling like they were left in a lurch and need book 2 to figure out what's going on. So this first book--and again this is all MY opinion and MY technique--needs to be a complete story in and of itself. For a series you need a larger series arc, something that will carry through the entire series, but for this first book you also need a subarc, one used for this particular novel, and one that feels well-rounded and complete by the end of the book.
Keeping the reader happy and leaving them satisfied is one reason, but another is that, if this is your first novel, you want to be able to present this to an editor as a single novel. You can approach an editor with a full-fledged series where the first book doesn't have this complete arc in itself, but I think it will be a harder sell. If the first book has it's own internal plot arc and end satisfactorily, you can present it as a standalone, which will be easier to sell. Most editors, if they like the first book, will come back to you with the question, "Is there more?" And this is when you can say you have ideas for sequels. So my suggestion for a series, in particular for an author's first book sale, is to tailor and present it as a single novel but WITH A BUILT-IN OPTION for sequels. If the editor is happy with the first book, they are more than likely going to ask if there are sequels, and then you're prepared and can say, aha, yes, there are sequels and here are the plot synopses for those.
But give that first book a good, solid, satisfactory arc.
Now for the other books in the series, I sort of do the same approach. I look for the big scenes, the ones that could be the endings of a book, and I try to keep the same idea in mind: will that ending scene give that particular book a nice, well-rounded, satisfactory ending? Will the reader walk away pissed because it's a cliffhanger and the next book isn't out yet, or will they feel like they just finished a great book but can't wait for the next one? I'm going for that last feeling. I want them to feel satisfied with the story and their read up to that point, but I want to leave them with enough "loose ends" or unfinished story threads that they want the next book right now. They aren't DYING to have it right now, but they want it. The basic difference between the sequels and the first book in the series for me is that with the sequels I don't feel that each individual book has to have as COMPLETE an ending as the first book. That first book needs to feel done, and needs to stand on its own if necessary (again, this is how I operate, not necessarily how everyone operates), whereas if the editor is interested in the sequels, I don't feel they need to be as complete. I want them to have nice solid endings. I want them to have their own internal story arc that feels finished by the end, but I don't feel that it has to be a standalone novel in and of itself as much.
Once I figured out the endings for each individual book, then I sit down and write out the plot synopses.
So, in summary, what I do to plan out the series is take my overall story guideposts and try to find the best ending scenes for each book. The first book has to have a single solid story line with the potential for sequels built in (but not necessary). The sequels need to have their own internal arcs, but they don't have to have as solid an ending as the first book. I do not do cliffhanger endings, but I want the readers to want the next book. Once I've figured out which guideposts are the endings for each of the books in the series, then I sit down and write out the plot synopses for the series by writing out the plot synopsis for each book separately, keeping in mind the overall story arc that I want for the entire series. I think of this as an umbrella (or one bat wing): There is an overall arc for the series--the top of the umbrella (or bat wing)--and each book within the series has its own individual arc--the ridged bottom edge off the umbrella (or bat wing). The graphic is cool if you get to see it on one of my panels.
And that's how I plan out the series. The basics anyway. Hope this helped! I now leave you with the "G" Man, who says, "Get to work on that series!" Now that you have an idea on how to plan it out, of course.
Also, I've chosen a winner of the signed "To Josh" book from the mildly disasterous signing event. And that winner is . . . sheryl67! Congrats! Send me a message here on LJ with the address I should send it to, or send an email to jpalmatier@sff.net, and I'll get that in the mail, hopefully in time to get it to your friend from miles away named Josh.
OK, now the writing topic. This was a panel at Worldcon in Montreal which I was a part of, along with George R.R. Martin, Laura Anne Gilman, Fiona Patton, Mindy Klasky, and M.D. Benoit. I'm not doing a rehash of the entire panel because I didn't take notes and I can't remember that far back, especially when it's so freaking hot outside. All I'm doing is giving you my thoughts on the topic, with some potentially interesting highlights from the panel itself that stuck with me.
The pictures are courtesy of Carole Ann Moleta. That's George R.R. Martin, me, and Laura Anne Gilman (from left to right).
In order to understand how I, personally, write a series, you have to understand that I'm a "pantser," meaning that I don't plan that far ahead, I just sit down and write without an outline or anything. All I have in my head are a bunch of potential scenes, or guideposts, events that I think are going to happen in the story and are typically the BIG events in the story, such as the ending, the beginning, and a few big moments in the middle somewhere. From the panel, I'd say that George is also a pantser, and that Laura Anne is mostly not, although she's flexible. George doesn't call it being a pantser though, he calls my style of writing being a "gardener," tending the garden but letting it grow as it wishes for the most part. He's a gardener. He calls Laura Anne's approach being an "architect." Since Laura Anne does some gardening in her style as well, she dubbed herself a "landscape architect."
So, if I'm a gardener or pantser, you might be wondering how I plan a series, since I don't seem to plan much at all. And in some sense that's true: I don't plan in the sense of a detailed outline or anything like that. But if you're going to sell books in this business, especially fantasy novels, you need to be able to provide plot synopses, and since most publishers want series, the synopsis will typically have to be for a multi-book series. I have a few proposals sitting on my editors desk right now, so I do have to do some planning. My editor understands that what I present in the plot synopsis might not be exactly what appears in the book, but that the book will be generally close to the synopsis.
Planning, even for pantsers, is still required in other words.
Here's how I do it then. I begin with the guideposts that have presented themselves. As I said, it's usually a bunch of scenes from the novel, let's say about 4 or 5. For a series, it's usually more. The first thing I do is look for the one powerful scene that will be the end of the first book. This scene needs to have a few essentials, especially for the first book in a series, and especially if this is to be your debut novel. It has to be powerful and gut-wrenching of course. You want the first book to end on a high note after all. But it needs more. For me, and for a debut novel, it has to be a satisfactory ending to a complete story arc. You want the readers to walk away happy they read that book, and not feeling like they were left in a lurch and need book 2 to figure out what's going on. So this first book--and again this is all MY opinion and MY technique--needs to be a complete story in and of itself. For a series you need a larger series arc, something that will carry through the entire series, but for this first book you also need a subarc, one used for this particular novel, and one that feels well-rounded and complete by the end of the book.
Keeping the reader happy and leaving them satisfied is one reason, but another is that, if this is your first novel, you want to be able to present this to an editor as a single novel. You can approach an editor with a full-fledged series where the first book doesn't have this complete arc in itself, but I think it will be a harder sell. If the first book has it's own internal plot arc and end satisfactorily, you can present it as a standalone, which will be easier to sell. Most editors, if they like the first book, will come back to you with the question, "Is there more?" And this is when you can say you have ideas for sequels. So my suggestion for a series, in particular for an author's first book sale, is to tailor and present it as a single novel but WITH A BUILT-IN OPTION for sequels. If the editor is happy with the first book, they are more than likely going to ask if there are sequels, and then you're prepared and can say, aha, yes, there are sequels and here are the plot synopses for those.
But give that first book a good, solid, satisfactory arc.
Now for the other books in the series, I sort of do the same approach. I look for the big scenes, the ones that could be the endings of a book, and I try to keep the same idea in mind: will that ending scene give that particular book a nice, well-rounded, satisfactory ending? Will the reader walk away pissed because it's a cliffhanger and the next book isn't out yet, or will they feel like they just finished a great book but can't wait for the next one? I'm going for that last feeling. I want them to feel satisfied with the story and their read up to that point, but I want to leave them with enough "loose ends" or unfinished story threads that they want the next book right now. They aren't DYING to have it right now, but they want it. The basic difference between the sequels and the first book in the series for me is that with the sequels I don't feel that each individual book has to have as COMPLETE an ending as the first book. That first book needs to feel done, and needs to stand on its own if necessary (again, this is how I operate, not necessarily how everyone operates), whereas if the editor is interested in the sequels, I don't feel they need to be as complete. I want them to have nice solid endings. I want them to have their own internal story arc that feels finished by the end, but I don't feel that it has to be a standalone novel in and of itself as much.
Once I figured out the endings for each individual book, then I sit down and write out the plot synopses.
So, in summary, what I do to plan out the series is take my overall story guideposts and try to find the best ending scenes for each book. The first book has to have a single solid story line with the potential for sequels built in (but not necessary). The sequels need to have their own internal arcs, but they don't have to have as solid an ending as the first book. I do not do cliffhanger endings, but I want the readers to want the next book. Once I've figured out which guideposts are the endings for each of the books in the series, then I sit down and write out the plot synopses for the series by writing out the plot synopsis for each book separately, keeping in mind the overall story arc that I want for the entire series. I think of this as an umbrella (or one bat wing): There is an overall arc for the series--the top of the umbrella (or bat wing)--and each book within the series has its own individual arc--the ridged bottom edge off the umbrella (or bat wing). The graphic is cool if you get to see it on one of my panels.
And that's how I plan out the series. The basics anyway. Hope this helped! I now leave you with the "G" Man, who says, "Get to work on that series!" Now that you have an idea on how to plan it out, of course.
